President Bush, January 20, 2004:
From the beginning, America has sought international support for our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we have gained much support. There is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of many nations, and submitting to the objections of a few. America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country.
Rudy Giuliani, yesterday:
We should seek [Pakistan's] permission if we ever have to take action there . . .
The "permission slip" line became one of the more important lines of the 2004 campaign. Kerry, it was widely claimed by supporters of the president, would only act when given permission by the world community. Thus, he could not be trusted to lead.
4 years later we have the Republican frontrunner explicitly arguing for permission slips, while the Democratic candidates - Obama in particular - have argued that there are times when we simply cannot wait and must act.
Where do I come down on all of this? Not surprisingly, I'm with Obama. That does not mean, however, as some have tried to suggest, that either I or he is also with Bush. Bush, after all, was talking about starting a regional war. Obama, on the other hand, is talking about carefully targeted attacks on al Qaeda's leadership and infrastructure. And that's what makes this whole thing so interesting.
Rudy's entire campaign is based around his tough guy leadership on 9/11. He's seen terrorism. He knows terrorism. And only he can be trusted to act decisively to keep America safe. Or so the story went... Now, apparently, he's going to ask Pakistan for permission before acting to take out bin Laden. You would think that sort of statement would make it impossible for him to win the GOP nomination. You would think...
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